Michael Grant Books in Order
See all Michael Grant books in order, with series lists, brief plot summaries, background on his YA and adult novels, and simple tips on where to start.
Last updated: January 16, 2026
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Publication Order
29 books
Hero
by Michael Grant
2019
After the disaster in Las Vegas, virus infected rock strikes New York and creates Vector, a walking swarm of diseases. The Rockborn Gang, joined by Sam and Astrid, take the fight to a global stage and learn what heroism really costs.
An Artful Assassin in Amsterdam
by Michael Grant
2019
Invited to a writers’ conference in Amsterdam, David Mitre hopes for a quiet few days of talking books. Instead he is targeted by a killer and strong armed into infiltrating a plot to steal a priceless Vermeer painting from a famous museum.
A Sudden Death in Cyprus
by Michael Grant
2019
Ex con and fugitive David Mitre is hiding out on a sun soaked Cypriot island when he witnesses a woman stabbed on the beach. Dragged in by determined FBI agents, he must use every scammer’s trick he knows to untangle a much larger crime.
Villain
by Michael Grant
2018
A new wave of rockborn appears, from government made weapons to a Vegas teenager whose hypnotic voice can control crowds. Dekka, Shade, and their uneasy allies must stop a mind bending massacre while uncovering the secrets of a dangerous black ops program.
Purple Hearts
by Michael Grant
2018
As D Day approaches, Rio, Frangie, and Rainy are sent into the carnage of the Normandy landings. Battle hardened yet far from unbreakable, they must lead others through chaos on Omaha Beach and hold on to what humanity they have left.
Soldier Girls in Action
by Michael Grant
2017
Reporter Anne Spats Patrone joins Second Squad on the front to write about the army’s new soldier girls. Embedded with Rio’s unit, she witnesses brutal combat and discovers that chasing a story can be as dangerous as carrying a rifle.
Silver Stars
by Michael Grant
2017
After surviving North Africa, Rio, Frangie, and Rainy are pushed into the invasion of Sicily and Italy. As the fighting intensifies, each young woman faces new tests of courage, from impossible medical choices to a covert mission behind enemy lines.
Monster
by Michael Grant
2017
Four years after the FAYZ, a new meteor shower spreads the alien virus across the world. Brilliant teen Shade Darby infects herself, becoming something inhuman, and joins other newly transformed rockborn in a brutal fight to stop a rampaging monster.
Dead of Night
by Michael Grant
2017
On a cold training exercise in rural Wales, Rio and her squad shelter in a crumbling inn that feels anything but safe. Cut off from command, they discover how quickly a routine maneuver can twist into something eerie and potentially deadly.
Front Lines
by Michael Grant
2016
In an alternate World War II where women can be drafted, Rio, Frangie, and Rainy enlist for very different reasons. From boot camp to the North African front, they learn combat, face prejudice, and discover how high the price of service can be.
The Tattooed Heart
by Michael Grant
2015
Now seasoned in the Messenger’s work, Mara follows new cases involving exploitation, hatred, and addiction. Each victim’s punishment adds another tattoo to the Messenger’s skin, and as she uncovers his past, Mara must decide what justice really means for both of them.
The Snake
by Michael Grant
2014
When a beloved teacher dies and the police do not see a crime, the Messenger and Mara intervene. Unraveling a twisted chain of lust and revenge, they choose which of two guilty people will play a deadly game and which will pay the final price.
Messenger of Fear
by Michael Grant
2014
Mara wakes in a field of dead grass with no memory of who she is and a pale boy who calls himself the Messenger of Fear. As his new apprentice, she must witness cruel acts and help decide terrifying punishments for the guilty.
The Power
by Michael Grant
2013
Time is almost up for Mack and his not quite complete Magnificent Twelve. With the Pale Queen ready to break free, they must convince a traitor to switch sides, gather the last Magnifica, and stumble into a final, world saving confrontation.
Love Sucks and Then You Die
by Michael Grant
2013
At fifteen, E.V. already feels out of sync with everyone around her. A disastrous school dance, an unwelcome kiss, and a cutting insult push her to question what love should look like, just before she notices someone who might change her mind.
Light
by Michael Grant
2013
The final days of the FAYZ bring the outside world to the edge of the barrier, watching as Sam and his friends confront their oldest enemy one last time. When the dome falls, the survivors must also face judgment for what they did inside.
BZRK Reloaded
by Michael Grant
2013
Reeling from their first clash with the Armstrong twins, the BZRK cell lies in pieces and their leader’s mind is shattered. As Bug Man hijacks the US president’s brain, Sadie and Noah dive back into the nano war, unsure who they can trust.
BZRK Origins
by Michael Grant
2013
Told as the journal of tech genius Grey McLure, this prequel traces the birth of biot technology and a rivalry with competing nanotech research. It shows how one man’s dream of progress sparks the hidden war that will later consume his family.
BZRK Apocalypse
by Michael Grant
2013
The invisible war reaches its breaking point as outbreaks of madness sweep the globe. Sadie and Noah lead BZRK’s final stand against the Armstrong twins and their mysterious backer, risking everything in a last attempt to stop humanity from being rewritten.
The Key
by Michael Grant
2012
Mack and the growing Magnificent Twelve hunt for a stone key that unlocks a powerful magical language. To master it before time runs out, they must outwit fairies, a cursed Loch Ness monster, and the Pale Queen’s ruthless daughter, Risky.
Fear
by Michael Grant
2012
The once silver barrier around the FAYZ begins to turn black, shutting out light and hope. As strange new mutations appear and the gaiaphage tightens its grip, Sam and Astrid race to stop a catastrophe that could destroy everyone inside the dome.
Eve & Adam
by Michael Grant
2012
After a horrific streetcar accident, Evening Spiker wakes up healing unnaturally fast inside her mother’s biotech lab. Bored and suspicious, she is asked to design the perfect boy on an experimental program and soon learns that perfection comes with a dangerous cost.
BZRK
by Michael Grant
2012
Noah and Sadie are ordinary teens until tragedy pulls them into BZRK, a secret war fought inside human brains. Using living biots against enemy nanobots, they battle a corporate cult bent on erasing free will, knowing madness is always one mistake away.
The Trap
by Michael Grant
2011
Still reeling from his new destiny, Mack sets out with his friends to find more of the Magnificent Twelve. Their search leads through China and Europe, where dragons, thunder gods, and a slow moving hitman stand between them and the next recruits.
Plague
by Michael Grant
2011
A violent sickness sweeps through Perdido Beach just as swarms of flesh eating insects rise from the desert. With the FAYZ on the brink of collapse, Sam leads a desperate search for water while a new horror marches toward the town.
The Call
by Michael Grant
2010
Phobia ridden twelve year old Mack MacAvoy is stunned when an ancient warrior appears in the school bathroom and reveals that he is one of twelve kids destined to stop the Pale Queen, an imprisoned sorceress about to rise again.
Lies
by Michael Grant
2010
Whispers of escape and sightings of the dead ignite panic inside the FAYZ. As fires, riots, and cults spread through town, Sam’s leadership fractures and an enemy thought destroyed returns to prove that truth can be as deadly as any power.
Hunger
by Michael Grant
2009
Three months into the FAYZ, food is running out and mutated creatures guard the crops. As hunger turns kids against each other, Sam struggles to hold Perdido Beach together while a terrifying power beneath the ground begins to demand a price.
Gone
by Michael Grant
2008
In a small California town, everyone aged fifteen and older vanishes in an instant, leaving kids trapped under a burning barrier. Sam Temple and his friends must feed the youngest, face new powers, and confront something monstrous lurking in the dark.
Where should I start?
If you want intense YA sci fi horror: Gone → Hunger → Lies → Plague.
If you like alternate history war stories: Front Lines → Dead of Night → Silver Stars → Purple Hearts.
For younger readers who enjoy funny fantasy: The Call → The Trap → The Key → The Power.
If you enjoy high tech conspiracies: BZRK → BZRK Reloaded → BZRK Apocalypse → BZRK Origins.
For a quick standalone with a sci fi twist: Love Sucks and Then You Die → Eve & Adam.
Author bio
Michael Grant was born in Los Angeles in 1954, but he did not stay there long. His father was in the military, which meant constant moves, new towns, and new schools. By his own count he attended ten schools in five states and three more in France.
He grew up packing boxes, starting over, and learning how to be the new kid again and again.
Money was often tight, and for part of his childhood his family lived in trailer parks. Grant left traditional school as a teenager and pieced together an education later, picking up a GED and briefly trying college. Books, movies, and long walks became the steady things in a life that never really settled.
He did not become a writer right away. Before he ever sold a novel he worked as a stock clerk, house painter, janitor, apartment manager, busboy, waiter, restaurant manager, editorial cartoonist, political media consultant, and documentary producer. Writing appealed partly because it was one of the few jobs that would let him keep moving whenever he felt like it.
Grant met fellow writer Katherine Applegate in Austin, Texas, when he saw her through an apartment window and decided to knock on the door. They quickly became partners in life and work. Together they spent years doing ghostwriting and work for hire before building original projects of their own.
As a team they created long running series for young readers, including the science fantasy of Animorphs, the portal fantasy of Everworld, the post apocalyptic Remnants books, and the relationship driven Making Out novels. Short chapters, cliffhanger pacing, and a willingness to talk about war, trauma, and loyalty made those series stick with readers well after the last page.
In the 2000s Grant began publishing more under his own name. Gone launched a nine book saga about a town sealed under a mysterious dome where teenagers develop terrifying powers and must build their own kind of society. With BZRK he imagined a secret war fought inside the human body using nanotechnology. The Messenger of Fear duology turned moral judgment into supernatural horror, while the middle grade Magnificent 12 books leaned hard into jokes, magic, and adventure.
Later he shifted into historical and adult fiction. The Front Lines or Soldier Girl novels reimagine World War II with young American women drafted into front line combat, following three very different soldiers through North Africa, Italy, and D Day. The David Mitre thrillers, starting with A Sudden Death in Cyprus, follow a former con artist turned crime writer who keeps stumbling into murders, art heists, and international trouble.
Across all of these stories certain patterns show up. Grant writes about people who are shoved into impossible situations and forced to choose who they want to be. He likes fast plots, sharp dialogue, and big ethical questions about power, responsibility, and the cost of survival. Violence and horror are common, but so are dry jokes and small, ordinary moments between friends.
Grant and Applegate have two children and a house full of pets. After living in almost fifty homes in fourteen states, he is now based in California, in the Bay Area. He still talks about the urge to move on, but his career has settled into a steady stream of novels that keep finding new readers who grew up on his work or are just discovering it for the first time.
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